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A Brazilian study of 175 obese 6- to 16-year-olds showed that increased abdominal fat was associated with a decline in bone-mineral density. The findings, published on the website of the journal BMC Pediatrics, suggest that abdominal obesity could be a factor in the development of osteoporosis in adulthood.

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Older men with the lowest levels of vitamin B-12 had about a 70% greater risk of bone fractures, particularly in the lumbar spine, compared with those with normal levels of the vitamin, according to a study of 1,000 men in Sweden. "The higher risk also remains when we take other risk factors for fractures into consideration, such as age, smoking, [weight], bone-mineral density, previous fractures, physical activity, the vitamin D content in the blood and calcium intake," University of Gothenburg researcher Catharina Lewerin said. The findings appear in the journal Osteoporosis International.

The FDA has authorized Novartis to promote bone drug Reclast as a once-in-two-years treatment for patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis. The company said the approval is supported by a 500-patient trial proving Reclast effective over placebo in significantly improving bone-mineral density.

Eli Lilly and Co. reported data from a second Phase III study showing that postmenopausal women who took arzoxifene, a drug candidate for osteoporosis, had increased bone-mineral density in the hips and spine compared with those who got placebo. Lilly said it plans to seek FDA clearance for the treatment and conclude another trial involving 9,000 patients later this year.

U.S. researchers reported that CT colonography can be used to detect not only colon cancer but also osteoporosis. Using computer software, the researchers were able to convert images from an abdominal CT scan into 3-D images of the spine to determine whether a patient has low bone mineral density.

Women with low bone-mineral density are more likely to develop spinal fractures after 15 years of follow-up compared to those with normal BMD, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found. Postmenopausal women should undergo bone-density testing if they are at risk for osteoporosis or before considering treatments, the study's lead author said.